


The Misadventures of Six-Drink Amy

by thelonelyislander



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Canon Divergence, F/M, Getting Together, Idiots in Love, Jealousy, Minor Injuries, Missing Scene, Mutual Pining, POV Alternating, Past Relationship(s), Pining, Pre-Relationship, Romantic Comedy, Romantic Gestures, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-03-20 16:04:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18995956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelonelyislander/pseuds/thelonelyislander
Summary: Jake and Amy each try and fail at romantic gestures. In the immortal words of Amy Santiago, "Six-Drink Amy... so alone."[A get-together fic told from alternating POVs.]





	1. Amy

**Author's Note:**

> I was late to the B99 party but I’m just really glad to be here. I’ve been relying on fanfiction to tide me over until Season 7 starts, and I wanted to contribute something to this wonderful fandom. This is the first work I've written in years (I used to write and beta for the HP fandom). Hopefully I haven't gotten too rusty. Enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter starts with missing scenes from "The Beachouse" and from "The Defense Rests". The rest of it follows the Season 2 timeline but is not "Johnny and Dora"-compliant. Some lines are quoted directly from the episode scripts.

Amy lay down on the carpet, trying to figure out how the ceiling and floor seemed to be spinning in opposite directions, and why anyone would want a house built that way.

“Ames.”

“Ginaaaa. You got to see the sasquatch. Was it everything you dreamt?”

“It was the stuff drumps are made of. Now let’s sit you up, and drink this entire glass of water.”

Amy took the glass and paused. “You’re taking care of me.”

“Just ‘cause I know you won’t remember it.”

“No, you like me. Six-Drink Amy is your friend. And she’s gonna be very sick right now.”

Amy crawled to the bathroom. Gina, letting out an audible sigh, followed closely behind and leaned against the doorframe. Moments later, Amy still hadn’t hurled and declared it a false alarm. She sat on the floor, her cheek against the bathtub, letting the cool tiles offset the heat in her face and body.

“Too bad, I was kinda hoping you would throw up so we could get you back down to Amy Dancepants or even Pervert Amy and you wouldn’t be such a bummer.” 

Amy shook her head. “Can’t promise I wouldn’t be just as sad.”

“Why are so down anyway, sasquatch? Not asking because I actually care, but I see the potential for intrigue here.”

“I’ve been thinking... maybe breaking up with Teddy was a mistake.”

“What? That man is so much more boring than you are, and I didn’t even think that was humanly possible.”

“I don’t know. It was so weird like, he was so… _ideal_. We fit together perfectly, but there was just no spark between us. And now I’ll never find someone as responsible and stable, or as organised, or as time-conscientious and who actually likes me for being anal-retentive.”

“Amy, Amy, Amy. Being too similar is why you guys didn’t work! You need someone to balance you out. The yang to your yin. I mean, the only reason I can’t be with celebrities is I will always end up outshining them.”

“That’s the only reason?” Amy said, raising her eyebrows.

“Oh, for sure.”

Amy squinted. “So, I should go for someone messy and immature and is always late and is in crushing debt?”

Despite her state, Amy cursed herself for adding that last bit. It narrowed the choices too specifically.

Gina crouched down and reached over to pat Amy’s head. “And who has already told you he likes you after years of being immersed in your analness.”

Amy blinked. This was coming from Gina, Jake’s oldest and closest friend.

“Could you please get it together, I’ve watched you guys disgustingly pine for each other for months and it’s really getting old.”

“I wouldn’t call it _pining_.”

“Uh-huh, well you don’t notice the look on his face whenever you talked about Mr. Boring.”

Amy knew she had missed her chance with Jake and she only had herself to blame. Jake had confessed his feelings for her – twice – and though she had felt something for him too, she had chosen to stay with Teddy. Stable, dependable, mature Teddy. And now it was too late. _“I’m with someone, nothing’s gonna happen.”_

“Gina, he’s with someone now. He has obviously moved on. And he’s happy. Sophia’s smart, fun, nice, sooo pretty and just… generally amazing. They’re perfect for each other.” As she said this, she couldn’t help thinking about how Sophia had genuinely tried to help her avoid that painful breakup with Teddy. 

Gina sighed at Amy’s pitiful form. “Okay, again, I will say this because you probably won’t remember it. You know Jake, he likes to keep busy in that department. But he has never had a serious relationship because he hasn’t found the person he really wants.”

Amy mulled this over, which was difficult given the amount of alcohol in her system. She thought of Jake joking that his worst date was a fifty-way tie. But Jake had been seeing Sophia for a little over two months, and she couldn’t remember Jake dating anyone for more than two weeks.

“Listen, I’ve known Jake since we were nine. He has never acted the same way with anyone else as he does when he’s around you.”

Amy managed to sit up despite her state. “You really think so?”

“Honey, you’re talking to Gina Linetti.” Gina widened her eyes for emphasis as she dramatically whispered, “I know so.”

* * *

Two weeks after the D.O.G. Party at Boyle’s beach house, Amy struggled to push thoughts of Teddy to the far recesses of her mind. It was quite difficult given that Teddy had been texting multiple times a day, telling her that he missed her, or asking if she wanted to meet up and talk things through.

Thankfully, work kept her busy. She threw herself into every single case, arresting perps left and right, at one point even breaking Jake’s precinct record. This would have set a usually competitive Jake off, if he hadn’t been so distracted in the past few days.

And a very distracted Jake tapped on his phone screen for the fifth time that minute.

“Jake, are you playing Kwazy Cupcakes again? I thought you still had to process that perp you arrested this morning?”

“I think Sophia’s been avoiding me,” he mumbled, not looking up from his phone. “She hasn’t replied to my texts and she keeps cancelling our dates.” Just then, his eyes brightened like when he has one of is epiphanies during a case. “I know, I’ll pay her a surprise visit at work! That’s a romantic gesture.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Hey Amy, would you do me a favour and come with me so we could pretend we’re there for work and it wouldn’t look suspicious? Please?”

“I – uh…” Jake looked expectantly at Amy with his stupid adorable grin. On one hand, Amy would hate to disappoint him, but on the other hand, she would rather be buried alive than watch Jake make a romantic gesture for his girlfriend while Amy still had feelings for him. Now she knew how Jake must have felt when she’d talk about her romantic weekends with Teddy.

“Sorry, Jake, I have a witness coming in in half an hour,” she lied.

“Okay, good luck with that. I’ll ask Terry.” Jake shot up and practically ran to Terry’s desk. When she was sure he wasn’t looking, Amy made her way to the evidence lock-up. Leaning against the wall, she cursed herself for not being a good friend. Jake was always there for her when she needed it, and he would always be willing to do stupid things for her as a favour, like inviting her boyfriend for a romantic getaway to make her happy, even if it had resulted in a disastrous breakup. Well, it was the thought that counted.

She missed being friends with Jake. They were still on good terms, but part of her knew that she couldn’t totally enjoy Jake’s company because she felt miserable whenever Sophia would come up. Well, that wasn’t Jake’s fault. Amy had held on to hope that Jake still had feelings for her, but despite what Gina had said (which Amy did end up remembering after all), it looked like Jake had truly moved on.

Amy smacked herself in the forehead. Jake’s friendship was one of the things she cherished most. It made them a wonderful team. She would just have to face the painful reality that they would only be friends, and she would do everything in her power to protect that friendship, even if it meant helping Jake with his Sophia problems. After all, the Neustadter incident almost broke Jake and Sophia up, too, and Amy had yet to make it up to Jake for that. She marched back to her desk to tell Jake that her fake witness had rescheduled and she could accompany him after all, but Jake and Terry had already left.

So much for her big friendship gesture. If only she had attended a seminar on how to be a good friend to someone she had feelings for…

Then it hit her. Sophia was avoiding Jake for some reason. There was some sort of _conflict_ between them, and she knew just how to help them. She opened a drawer and brought out a thick binder labelled “CONFLICT RESOLUTION”.

Jake and Terry didn’t return that afternoon, but Amy got to practice her conflict resolution on Gina, Charles, and Lynn, and it had worked out fine. She was almost confident that she could make it work for Jake and Sophia as well. Amy decided to join the others at Shaw’s and offer to help Jake the next day.

Ten minutes into Gina’s discussion of her vision for the Boyle-Linetti wedding, Amy tried to calendar the date and realised that she only had her work phone in her purse.

“Oh, shoot, I forgot my personal phone in my desk. Be right back, you guys.” She slid out of the booth and walked back to the precinct.

Amy saw Sophia hastily exiting the lobby. What was Sophia doing there? Maybe she and Jake had made up and Amy’s conflict resolution skills wouldn’t be needed after all. Amy walked up to say hello when a breathless Jake bounded up to Sophia, and Amy, being a mature and respectable person, hid behind one of the patrol cars. It sounded like Jake and Sophia were arguing about something. Amy’s conscience told her to tune it out and give them privacy, but temptation got the better of her and she listened in.

“Look, Jake, you’re fun, okay? And we’ve only been dating for three months. It’s just not that serious,” she heard Sophia say.

“Well, it’s kind of serious to me. I’ve accidentally said ‘I love you’ like four times already,” Jake responded. Amy covered her mouth and tried to steady her breathing.

“I know, I just… don’t think I accidentally love you back.”

There was a light pause. Amy’s heart ached and threatened to jump right out of her chest at the same time.

“It’s just so much work,” Sophia added.

“That’s work I’m willing to do,” Jake pleaded.

“I’m not. I’m sorry.”

Amy heard footsteps walking away from the precinct, which she assumed were Sophia’s. Seconds later, Jake made his way back inside the building. Amy ran back to Shaw’s without grabbing her phone. There was no way she could face Jake after that.

Gina was definitely wrong about the extent of Jake’s feelings for Sophia. Not only was he serious about her, he had professed _love_ , multiple times. Jake was willing to put in so much effort to make the relationship work and this was Jake, who hated any form of responsibility or doing adult things in general. Amy rejoined the others at the booth but stayed quiet. Fortunately, Gina was still rattling off wedding plans, and wouldn’t need anyone’s input for hours.

Jake later joined the squad at Shaw’s, looking dejected and broken. He sat with Captain Holt and the Terry at the bar. Once Charles started describing his horrific wedding with Eleanor, Amy excused herself from the booth again and ordered more shots at the bar. She sensed someone slide into the seat next to her and she saw that it was Jake.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey, partner.” Amy downed another shot.

“Whoa, what’s up with you?” asked Jake.

“I’m celebrating. I got to help Charles and Gina with a family thing by applying my mean conflict resolution skillz.”

“Generally people who are celebrating look happy.” Jake nodded at the empty shot glasses. “How many have you had?”

“Hmm… six, I think.”

“Oh, and Six-Drink Amy is… Sad Amy. I guess that tracks.”

Amy shrugged. ‘Sad Amy’ could be the title of her biography, really.

“Well, Sad Amy, you have found a friend tonight. Sophia broke up with me.” 

“Ouch. I’m sorry, Jake.”

“Yeah, she said our work was incompatible, and our lives are incompatible.”

Amy didn’t know what to say. Sure, a defence attorney and a cop wouldn’t make the best pair – actually, it could really be a terrible pair, but they could have made it work if they had both tried. After all, Teddy and Amy were both cops but the relationship imploded just the same. Arguably, it was worse that Amy had dated a cop because there was always the possibility of awkward run-ins or getting teamed up for a case in the future. At least Jake wouldn’t be in the same situation with Sophia, as they were naturally always on opposite sides. 

She squeezed Jake’s shoulder gently and handed him a shot glass. They clinked their glasses together and remained silent for the rest of the night. Rosa would have been so damn proud. 

* * *

Over the next couple of days and weeks, Amy got to see a new version of her partner: Heartbroken Jake Peralta. He only had a fraction of his usual energy and kept checking his phone for what Amy presumed were messages from Sophia. This was by far Amy’s least favourite version of Jake; it was even worse than when Jake had broken the mirror in the interrogation room and blamed it on her. Each of them tried different ways of cheering Jake up. Rosa let him be bad cop during interrogations, Holt and Terry gave him the weirdest cases, and Charles took Jake out for pizza instead of the usual hotdog stand lunch. To Amy’s dismay, none of it seemed enough to bring the old Jake back, and they eventually ran out of interesting cases to distract Jake with.

Even the case that he and Amy worked with Dave Majors didn't seem to be enough to get him completely back on track, despite it being an impressive solve for Jake – not to mention he seemed to get along well with Majors. Plus, Amy sensed a bit of awkwardness with Jake after their case with Majors, and she wished that she could figure out a way to get their old dynamic back. She shuddered at the thought of how messy things could have gotten if she and Jake had tried dating and it hadn’t worked out.

Captain Holt assigned Amy and Jake to investigate a case of multiple burglaries at a hotel where the victims all seemed to be attendees of a technology summit. The items stolen were mostly gadgets and test units of products yet to be launched, and no cash was taken. They met Christopher Grayson, the event chairman, a middle-aged man with prematurely thinning hair, and who desperately wanted to keep the burglaries under wraps. He had agreed to provide a list of all the people working on the event but wasn’t too helpful beyond that.

Unfortunately, it looked like they would have to do door duty among the summit attendees, and Amy knew Jake hated door duty. Strangely, he didn’t complain about it, which only reaffirmed that the old Jake was still down and under. An hour of knocking later, Jake rapped on door 307. “Hi, I’m Detective Peralta and this is my partner, Detective –”

“Amy Santiago!” said the occupant, a tall guy with slicked-back hair and dressed in an expensive-looking suit, as he opened the door in full and stepped out.

“Ricky? Ricky Rodriguez?” said Amy, leaning in for a hug. “Oh my god, I haven’t seen you since…”

“Graduation, probably, since you never attend the reunions.” said Ricky, flashing a small smile.

“Jake, this is Enrique Rodriguez. We were classmates in high school.”

“Oh, pleased to meet you, Mr. Rodriguez.” Jake shook hands with the taller man.

“Please, call me Ricky,” he said to Jake.

“And you can call me, Amy’s Boss.” Jake joked, wagging his eyebrows. Ricky laughed as Amy punched Jake in the arm. “I mean, Jake,” Jake said, rubbing his arm.

“So, detectives, what brings you here?” asked Ricky.

Amy posed her pen against her notepad. “We’re investigating a series of burglaries that have happened at this hotel this week. We think it might be connected to the tech summit since all the victims so far are listed as attendees. Would you happen to have noticed anything strange during your stay here?” 

“Oh, well, actually, I did notice something weird when I was registering for the event, but I’m due to join the panel on sustainable technology in five minutes. Is there a way I could talk to you guys later?”

“Sure, you can come down to the precinct this evening and give us your statement.”

“Okay, cool. It was great seeing you again, Amy. And nice meeting you, Jake.” Ricky shook hands with both of them and handed him his business card which read, “ _Ricky Rodriguez, Founder, Halls of Hope_ ” before walking towards the conference room.

“Sooo what’s up with you and that guy? Bit of a high school romance? Puppy love?” Jake teased.

Amy scrunched her nose. “No, it was nothing like that. Student relationships weren’t allowed at the Sacred Heart. The two of us were always at the top of the class so the teachers loved pairing us up for everything. We were co-editors of the school paper, debate partners, leads in the school play…”

“And by ‘leads in the school play’, I assume you mean you two played Mary and Joseph at every Nativity play for four years?”

“No!”

Jake raised his eyebrows. 

“Okay, yes, but we only did that for three years. On our senior year, they finally allowed us to do choose something else, as long as there was no romance, hugging, or touching of any sort. We ended up doing a pantomime. It was really weird.”

“Ha! Three years of Blessed Virgin Amy! This is great!” He cracked a wide smile and let out a rich, roaring laugh until he ran out of breath.

“Shut up, Peralta,” Amy rolled her eyes and suppressed a smile. Jake hadn’t smiled or laughed like that since the breakup, and Amy was happy that he was happy – even if it was at her expense.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We know Amy actually went to a magnet school instead of a Catholic school, but please do humour me (and Blessed Virgin Amy).


	2. Jake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jealousy is a gross emotion that Jake Peralta definitely does _not_ feel.

****“Jake? Detective Peralta?”

Jake turned his head and saw that Ricky had changed into jeans, a plain white long-sleeved button-up shirt, and casual dress shoes. Even his hair wasn’t slicked back anymore, and he looked way younger. “Hi. I’m here to give my statement.”

“Thanks for coming over, man. Have a seat.” Jake shook hands with him and gestured to the seat beside his desk. “Detective Santiago will be back in a bit. In the meantime, please do tell me all the embarrassing stories of her from high school. Aside from her playing french horn, I mean.”

Ricky laughed as he sat beside Jake. “I wish I could, but she was just so good at everything, you know? Except maybe dancing. And choir. I think that's why she went with jazz band instead.”

Jake grinned, having witnessed Amy's terrible dancing first-hand.

“That said, she wasn’t popular, but she wasn’t bullied, either. People were afraid of her brothers. Plus, the teachers all loved her. I think the only time she ever disappointed them was when she decided she wanted to be a cop.”

“What do you mean?” Jake asked.

“It's just... They felt like she could become anything, you know? Scientist, surgeon, journalist, lawyer…” (Jake cringed at that last part) “And I guess ‘cop’ just didn’t fit their vision for her. I for one admired her conviction to become a cop just like her dad." Ricky added with a chuckle, “Well I _did_ have a huge crush on her so I actually admired everything she did.”

“Oh, so you and Santiago had a history?” Jake tried to come across as nonchalant. He thought it best to avoid further interactions with Amy's old flames, lest it lead to disaster again.

Ricky shook his head. “Nah, she wasn't interested. She just wanted to focus on her studies, and of course it was against the school rules.”

“Yeahhh, sounds about right.” Jake murmured, realising that Amy must have been a stickler for the rules even in high school, and feeling a twinge of regret at Amy’s new rule against dating cops.

He also thought about the times Amy’s intelligence and encyclopaedic knowledge had manifested since they’d met, and how he would often wonder how such a smart girl could end up working with the likes of Hitchcock and Scully… or even Jake Peralta, who had only read fifteen books his entire life.

“I actually wanted to take her to prom and finally tell her I liked her, but she volunteered to be student chaperone. She wore a pantsuit.” Ricky smiled. “I can see she still does.”

“Yep, that’s Santiago for you.”

“Hey, would you know if she’s seeing anyone right now?”

“Uhhh.” Jake paused. Not this again, and too soon on the heels of Dave Majors. What is it with guys wanting to go out with Amy? Couldn’t they all just back off until Amy came around and gave Jake a chance? “Nope," Jake heard himself say, "she's a free agent.” Jake nodded towards Amy who was making her way back to her desk.

“Oh hey, Ricky, you’re here! Have you started on the statement?”

“Not yet,” said Jake. “He was just telling me how much of a rule-breaker you were in high school.”

“Ha-ha,” said Amy, rolling her eyes at Jake again. “So Ricky, what was it that you noticed at the conference?”

“Well, when I was registering on Monday, There were different folders for different panels, and I was checking if they’d noted the panels that I pre-registered for. The folders were all blue except for a thin white one. I opened it to see if it was for one of the panels, too, but it just had a list of names of the attendees, company information, panel schedules, and room numbers. That struck me as odd because none of the other folders had room numbers in them. Then, one of the coordinators came over and snatched the folder from me, saying that it was for a different event and was put there by mistake. But some names in the list were definitely tech summit participants.”

"Interesting," said Jake. “Could you describe this coordinator?”

“She was brunette, with wavy hair, slim, around 5’6” or 5’7”, I would say. Wore glasses at the time.”

“Have you seen her around since then?” Jake asked.

“Well I move between panels a lot and I don’t always get to interact with the coordinators, but maybe, yeah.”

“Would you recognise her if you saw her again?” Amy asked.

“Yeah, I think so,” said Ricky.

“Okay, the summit ends on Friday and we have until then to sniff her out. We’ll circle back tomorrow,” said Jake.

“Great. If you don’t have anything to add, I can print this out and make copies.” Amy looked expectantly at Ricky.

“Can’t think of anything else right now.” Ricky said slowly, “But then I am pretty hungry. Can you recommend any good places here? Maybe we could continue discussing over dinner, catch up a bit...”

Jake had to admit, Ricky was smooth. And he hated it.

“Actually, we need to finish running background checks on all the coordinators and staff members of the event,” Amy responded without batting an eyelash. Jake did a mental fist-pump. “There’s a great Thai place three blocks from here, though. I just need you to sign the statement." Amy handed Ricky the loose printed pages, which the latter signed.

“Okay great,” Ricky said, getting up. If he had been disappointed, he didn’t show it. “I’ll let you guys know if I think of anything else.”

Amy walked Ricky to the elevator.

“Oh, by the way,” Ricky said, turning to Amy, “Halls of Hope is hosting a mentoring event for at-risk youth at the community centre this Saturday. We’ve invited people from different professions to talk to the kids about their work. We haven’t gotten people from law enforcement, so I'd be really honoured if you join us.”

Amy flashed a huge smile. “Yes, yes of course I’ll be there.”

“Great. You should bring Jake, too.”

“Oh, I don’t think Jake would –”

“Sounds awesome, see you there!” yelled Jake from his desk, cringing at having given away that he'd been eavesdropping the entire time.

“Perfect. The program's pretty packed though. Some of the kids have summer jobs in the afternoon. I hope the eight a.m. call time won't be a problem.”

Jake groaned inwardly. Eight o’clock on a weekend? He could barely get himself to work by nine o’clock on regular days. Amy raised both eyebrows at Jake. They were probably thinking the same thing.

“Sure thing,” said Jake, giving a thumbs-up sign as Ricky waved goodbye and entered the elevator.

“You don’t have to go, Peralta. I know you love sleeping in on your weekends off,” Amy said as she slid back into her chair.

“And let those kids miss out on the chance to be mentored by the NYPD’s most brilliant detective? No way.” Amy let out a short laugh.

"Seriously, though, I do want to go. I used to do a lot of volunteer work in high school, and sometimes I miss doing that." Jake had mentioned this casually, as a mere statement of fact, but he felt Amy looking at him intently. He started to feel embarrassed under her gaze. “So… what is this ‘Halls of Hope’ anyway?”

“I don’t know much about it, actually. I heard that Ricky was in tech and he’d risen up the ranks, which isn’t surprising ‘cause he was always super smart. Then a couple of months back, he just decided to put up a foundation and quit his high-paying job so he could work on Halls of Hope full-time. I think they use apps to link corporate donors with various charities.”

Jake really wished Ricky were easier to dislike. 

“Wow, Santiago, you really know how to break good guys’ hearts, don't you.” Jake said, shaking his head at Amy dramatically.

“What?” Amy said, sounding panicked and looking genuinely confused.

“He just asked you out and you turned him down.”

“He wasn’t asking me out. He was just hungry and he didn't want to be rude. You heard him.” Jake thought Amy was talking faster than usual.

“He asked me if you were seeing anyone, and I said you weren’t.”

“Oh.” Amy kept a straight face and continued typing.

Jake had expected Amy to be thrilled with the prospect of someone nice and attractive being interested in her. She had a habit of announcing to the precinct whenever she’d had a big date, or oh-so-casually letting it slip that she and her current flame would be having a romantic getaway. Yet she had turned Ricky Rodriquez down, sort of, and she had definitely rejected Dave Majors.

As for Jake Peralta? Maybe he still stood a chance... if he took the leap and challenged Amy's rule against dating cops.

“Unless you _are_ seeing someone," Jake fished, "in which case, whoopsie.”

“I’m not – it’s just not a good time, y’know?"

It was rhetorical, but Jake was seriously tempted to ask what Amy meant. He knew for a fact that Amy had been able to fit singles’ nights in particularly busy work weeks before. He decided to drop it for now.

Michelle Winters, the event coordinator, was arrested the following day. She confessed to the burglaries and agreed to name her principals in exchange for a reduced sentence. Amy sent an email thanking Ricky for his help with the case, and saying that she and Jake were excited to help out at the volunteer event that weekend.

 _“Great work! Congratulations! Can’t wait to see you. :-)”_ Ricky had sent back.

Jake sulkily tried to convince himself that the “you” there was plural. Jake was clearly CC-ed in Amy’s email, after all.

* * *

Saturday, 7:12am  
_Hey, u still at home??_

     Saturday, 7:15am  
     Amy S.  
_Yes. Leaving in a bit. Need a ride?_

Saturday, 7:15am  
_Nope, im outside_

Jake smugly tucked his phone into his shirt pocket. His smirk widened upon seeing Amy's shocked face as she descended her apartment steps. She was in dark jeans and a faded pink v-neck cotton shirt with quarter sleeves, and her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. He always liked seeing her in casual clothes, and not just because the jeans enhanced her curves (though that did factor in significantly). He thought Amy could look attractive in anything, even in the skeleton costume she had to wear for Halloween once. The one she was wearing when she had gotten eggshell in her bra (but that was something Jake really shouldn't be thinking about).

"Didn't think I'd show up on time?" he said as Amy opened the passenger's seat door.

"Honestly? No, and you're not even on time; you're _early_. This is crazy. Also, thanks, but you didn't have to pick me up, I know it's out of the way."

"Nonsense. As the NYPD's best detective, it is my duty to show that I care about punctuality," Jake said with flair, "and my peers," he added, whipping out a to-go cup of _café con leche_ from Nitro Nook, Amy's favourite cafe.

"Oh my god, you are a lifesaver!" Amy squealed, reaching for the cup. She snorted when she saw that the barista had scribbled 'Blessed Virgin Amy' on the side upon Jake's instruction. Then, she shot him a look with narrowed eyes. "Wait, why are you being so nice? What did you do and what do you need?"

Jake felt his face heat up as he stammered, "Nothing! I just know you had to stay out late with Rosa last night. What time did you guys wrap up?"

“Around half past two, I think. It was a dead end though. The dealer never showed," Amy said as she sipped her coffee.

Wanting to lighten the mood (and change the topic), Jake asked, "So, how come you never attend your high school reunions? Is it because you had a typo in one of your book reports and you're afraid that the ugly truth will be revealed a decade later?"

“What? No, and I never had typos in my reports." Amy scoffed.

"Well is it because you secretly made out with one of your classmates and you're afraid to see how he," Jake paused for effect, "or she – has turned out?"

"Okay, I will not hit you for that because you got me coffee," Amy said, glaring at Jake. "But the truth is, I never want to go because I’d just be surrounded by people telling me their their amazing accomplishments while I won't have anything to say."

"What? Amy, that's insane. You're the smartest person I know."

"That's what they thought too, Jake. Everyone expects the valedictorian to have some flashy title or glamorous lifestyle to flaunt at the reunions."

"You're a detective of the NYPD. That is a great title. And you’ve cracked so many good cases," Jake said, looking at Amy long enough to let her know he was serious, but not too long because he knew Amy would get uncomfortable when the driver takes his eyes off the road.

"I wasn’t too excited about my promotion before I transferred to the Nine-Nine." Amy responded quietly.

Jake felt that there was a story behind that, too, but the drive to the community centre was a short one, and before they knew it, Jake was pulling up to the parking area. He tried to look unaffected when Amy and Ricky hugged for what seemed like a second too long.

The volunteers were divided into six groups, with around five adults assigned to speak a group of eight to ten kids. Jake and Amy were assigned to separate groups, which Jake didn't mind save for the fact that Amy was grouped with Ricky.

Jake's group was a mix of mostly boisterous pre-teen boys and girls who were firing questions at some restaurateurs and a basketball coach. Jake noticed a shy-looking black girl who sat quietly at a corner of the table. He walked over to where she was and sat beside her.

"I'm Jake," he said, looking at her name tag. "'Sup, Andrea?" The little girl shrugged. Jake guessed that she was about eleven or twelve. "Not interested in sports or starting a restaurant, I see." She shrugged again.

"Well, maybe you want to solve cases and catch bad guys? That's what I do. I'm a cop," he handed her his badge, which she inspected curiously. Jake looked over to where Amy was, and he could've sworn that he caught her looking his way, too, but she averted her gaze immediately.

"I like Nancy Drew. And puzzles," Andrea said after a while. "But my gramps says girls can’t do that in real life.”

"Well,” Jake said, taking a deep breath, “it can be hard, but it's not impossible. It's not fair that it's easier for boys, but times are changing, and hopefully by the time you're old enough to enter the academy, girls and boys will have it just the same," Jake isn't sure if he's getting his point across.

Then he brightens and remembers the best example from real life: "But I will tell you this, my partner is a girl, and she is amazing. She's the best detective I know. One day, she'll be the youngest police captain the NYPD has ever had."

A bell was rung, signalling time for snacks. Jake got sandwiches for himself and Andrea, who had begun asking him about the cases he and Amy had handled. Amy later sat across from them at the picnic table.

"Andrea, this is Detective Amy Santiago, my partner. Like you, she loves solving puzzles." Jake said.

"Hey there, Andrea," said Amy. "The NYPD needs sharp minds like yours. I really hope you'll enter the academy someday. "

"Jake says you're the best detective he knows," Andrea said, looking at Amy with wonder.

"Really?" Amy looked at Jake, who stared intently at his sandwich.

"Yeah and that you'll be the youngest captain someday."

"Well, only if you don't beat me to it," said Amy said, smiling at Andrea.

The program wrapped up after the kids performed a few songs and spoken word numbers. Jake noticed that Amy wasn't fully paying attention and had a weird glassy look in her eyes.

Ricky ran up to Jake and Amy as they got ready to leave. "Hey, I really appreciate your coming here today," he said. "If you aren't busy for the rest of the day, I'd love to take you out for lunch or dinner."

"Actually we have to go back to the precinct," Jake butted in, partly surprising himself in the process.

"We do?" asked Amy.

"Holt's orders. Something about files needed for a hearing on Monday."

"Oh, well, next time then," said Ricky with his usual chipper tone. "Thanks again for your help!" he waved at them and went to talk to the other volunteers.

"Captain Holt didn't text me," Amy said, frowning at her phone.

"Sorry, I made that up. I think you need to get some rest. You've been stifling yawns for the past hour."

Amy didn't respond, and began walking back to Jake's car.

Jake sighed. "Look, you can call Ricky later and tell him that we've finished work early. I'm sure he'd still want to have dinner with you. Besides, I just gave you an excuse to change into something date-appropriate. Really saved your ass back there. 'Cause I'm obviously the best partner ever."

Amy laughed softly but made no comment. Her silence during the ride back to her place drove Jake insane. He couldn't tell if she was angry or just tired, or something else entirely. When he pulled up across her apartment, she removed her seatbelt and just sat there for a while. Jake wondered if she had fallen asleep with her eyes open.

"You were great today," she said, startling Jake a little.

"Title of my sex tape," Jake said, smirking again. "Don't mention it. Now get some shut-eye. You're really starting to look like a zombie."

Amy opened the door of the passenger's seat, and right before exiting, she squeezed Jake's hand as it rested on the hand brake. The movement was so quick that Jake wasn't sure if he had just imagined it. He watched her walk up the steps of her building and close the door without looking back.  

* * *

The following week, Jake went on a three-day stakeout with Charles and didn’t get to see much of Amy or the others. When they got back at midday on Thursday, Amy and Rosa were still working their drug case with little progress while the rest of the squad tried to help out.

Jake offered to take a look at the known warehouse locations to try to find a pattern or delivery route. Sitting at Amy’s desk, he scrolled through the pins on the map and selected portions to print out. Out of habit, he glanced at the bottom-right corner of the screen when an email notification popped up.

 _From: rrodriguez@hallsofhope.net_  
_"Thanks for last night. I had fun. :-)"_

Suddenly, Jake couldn't focus on the map anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo this update came sooner than expected. I promise to update at least twice a week. Don't worry, this won't be long (title of your sex tape). Thank you so much for the comments and kudos!
> 
> Amy's comment on her transfer to the Nine-Nine makes reference to "He Said, She Said", an episode that really touched my heart. Also don't you just love that Jake's doing a lot of community service in high school (and Amy's having the hots for it) is canon (as we see in "The Tattler")?


	3. Amy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This time, Amy was the one who didn't want to hold anything back.

When Amy awoke later that Saturday, she was still in her jeans and shirt. Jake was right. She badly needed to rest and she had underestimated how exhausted she actually was. Her bedside clock told her that it was nearly 7:00pm. At least she didn't have to think about dinner with Ricky.

As she waited for her microwave to finish heating  leftover pizza, she picked up her phone and contemplated texting Jake to thank him again, but she decided against it. _Too much_ , she thought. Instead, she composed a message to Kylie.

Saturday, 7:08pm  
_So, he was really nice today. I mean, reeeally nice. Maybe even sweet._

     Saturday, 7:11pm  
     Kylie  
_Nice and sweet are okay, but flirty would be better._

Saturday, 7:13pm  
_You know I can never tell. Anyway, Ricky kind of asked me out again._

     Saturday, 7:15pm  
     Kylie  
_Sorry, girl, Ricky gets my vote here. But whatever makes you happy. Call me if you want to talk about it._

Amy chuckled. Although Jake and Kylie were civil to each other, Kylie wasn't a fan of Jake's unorthodox thinking, and Jake found Kylie a tad too condescending. When Amy told Kylie of their run-in with Ricky that week, Kylie had been super excited, commenting that Ricky definitely suited Amy more. But Kylie also knew that Amy had been trying to figure out her feelings for Jake for a while now, and she did her best to support her best friend no matter what.

Saturday, 7:20pm  
_Maybe tomorrow. xo_  

Ever since Jake declared his feelings before going undercover, Amy had been unable to shake thoughts of him off completely. There were times when Jake had weighed so heavily on her mind that she could not in good conscience remain in a relationship with Teddy without telling him what Jake had said, and how confused he made her feel. By her standards, keeping it a secret was tantamount to emotional infidelity.

Now that she was single and she could guiltlessly consider the idea of pursuing a relationship with Jake, she wasn't convinced that it was a good idea to take the leap from friendship to something more. Plus there was her rule against dating cops after the fiasco with Teddy.

These past few days, it finally seemed like she and Jake had found their old rhythm, and he was no longer the dark cloud that he'd morphed into after his breakup with Sophia. Amy had known Jake for five years and had practically memorised his moods, antics, and expressions, but for the life of her, she couldn't tell if 'romantic-stylez' was still on the table. Part of her wanted it to be.

Sure, Jake was really sweet today, and his actions confused her to the point of madness. Did they mean anything? Was it possible that he only did those things as a friend? He did tease her about dinner with Ricky - definitely a friend move. But  Amy had given Jake advice on Jenny Gildenhorn despite still having feelings for him. She simply lied about being okay with it. Maybe Jake was just pretending to be okay with her and Ricky, too.

When she tried to help Jake with Jenny, she thought she was just being practical. It was no secret that Jake had been obsessed (his words) with Jenny for decades, and finally getting her seemed like the obvious cure for Jake's hang-ups over Sophia, a person for whom Jake had professed his love and his willingness to commit.

Amy was competitive by nature, but she also knew to choose her battles. Logically speaking, a vague 'romantic-stylez' just didn't stand a chance against outright love or a lifelong obsession.

She did the dishes thrice that night. It always helped to clear her mind.

* * *

On Wednesday afternoon, Ricky called to ask if she wanted to have dinner with him and Mr. Simmons, their Analytic Geometry teacher, whom he'd bumped into at the farmer's market. Amy was quite fond of Mr. Simmons; he didn't play favourites but he still always challenged her to reach her potential. She knew he’d be thrilled to hear about how she’d been able to apply math to find patterns that helped solve cases.

"Okay, Ricky, I’ll see you later. Bye." Amy smiled. Maybe Jake was right to tell her off for feeling unaccomplished as a detective.

"Ooh, sounds like someone's going on a date tonight," Gina remarked from her desk.

Amy rolled her eyes, never quite getting used to Gina's constant eavesdropping. "You must be really bored, Gina."

"The WiFi's down and it'll take another ten minutes to reboot."

"Figures. Anyway, it's not a date. I'm having dinner with an old classmate and and old teacher of mine."

"Ugh," Gina said, looking disgusted. "You do know that the reason you graduate from school is so you never have to see those people again, right?"

"Some would say it's to increase one's opportunities in life," Amy quipped.

"And some would say pantsuits are a good idea for anything but they never are."

"All right, should've seen that coming," Amy said, shaking her head as she walked away.

Dinner with Ricky and Mr. Simmons proved to be a welcome respite from the drudgery of the still-directionless drug case. Amy appreciated the ease with which conversation flowed with Ricky. In another time, she would have been more than willing to be set up with a guy like him, and maybe they would have hit it off pretty well. But the Amy of today had to be honest with herself. She just wasn’t attracted to Ricky that way, and she knew why.

The trio ended up talking and laughing past midnight, until Amy finally had to excuse herself. She promised Mr. Simmons that she would show up at the next reunion.

When she declined Ricky's offer to drive her home, he insisted that he wait with her until her Uber arrived.

"If I'd known it would only take Mr. Simmons to get you to go out to dinner, I'd have hunted him down last week," Ricky joked, but Amy knew it was half-meant. She thought carefully about what her next words should be.

"Ricky, this was nice," she began, "but I hope you won't get the wrong impression. I'd like us to stay in touch, as friends, if that's okay."

Ricky paused then nodded, putting his hands in his pockets. "That would be more than okay."

Amy's car arrived and she waved goodbye. "G'night, and do keep up the amazing work."

"You too, Amy. See you around."

* * *

 "Hey. How'd your stakeout go?" Amy asked as Jake stuffed his duffel bag under his desk. It was the first time they'd seen each other since Saturday, and the giddiness Amy felt over the weekend began to resurface. Was it weird that she found his crumpled shirt cute? Anyway, she was glad Jake dropped by the precinct before heading home.

"Pretty good," Jake replied confidently. "We took a bunch of photos and we were able to pick up on where the gang plans to transfer their HQ. How's your case going?"

"Not so good. My CIs have been showing me a couple more drop-off sites but we haven't been able to trace where the next one might be."

"I can take a look if you want. A fresh set of eyes might help."

Amy smiled. It was so like Jake to want to help out with a case even though he must have felt drained from the three-day stakeout. "That would be great. The photos are all in a folder on my desktop. I'll just check in with Rosa."

Amy was still going over case notes with Rosa and Captain Holt in the briefing room when Jake came up to them. "Hey, I couldn't make sense of the drop-off locations either. Sorry. Guess I'm more tired than I realised." Amy thought he sounded a little odd, but he did look worn out (plus possibly in need of a proper shower), and understandably so.

"That’s why I gave you and Boyle the afternoon off, Peralta,” said Captain Holt. “You should go home. Good work on the stakeout.”

"Thanks for trying, Jake." Amy said.

He gave a small salute before leaving.

Jake called in sick the next day, and Amy began to worry. For one thing, it was rare for Jake to do that. Plus, he hadn't asked anyone to bring case files over. Jake being hyperactive as he was, he still worked cases even on his sick days, believing that the challenge would help his recovery. Amy suppressed a smile, thinking of how horrified she'd felt when she first learned that Jake had been bringing confidential case files home in violation of precinct regulations. But eventually she'd become complicit in his schemes, and they'd pored over case files together at his place many times.

She blushed, realising just how willing she was to break rules for Jake Peralta.

When she noticed that she'd been reading the same paragraph of a witness statement for the past ten minutes, she decided that she would be useless at work unless she made sure that Jake was okay.

An idea popped into her head, but she tried to dismiss it immediately. _Remember your rule. This might make things messy and weird at work._

Strangely, though, her armpits didn't feel sweaty while she considered her plan, and sweating was her natural tendency whenever she was breaking a rule (granted, she _was_ the one who made the rule in the first place).

It was risky and somewhat foreign to her. But her gut told her it was worth a shot. This time, she was the one who didn't want to hold anything back.

* * *

 

Friday, 11:40am  
_Hey, heard you weren’t feeling well. Have you eaten?_

     Friday, 11:42am  
     J. Peralta  
_No appetite rn but ill be ok_

Friday, 11:43am  
_Wrong answer. Open the door, Peralta._

Amy clutched the box from Tony’s nervously, not sure what to expect on the other side of Jake’s door. On the floor by her feet was a box with a stack of case files, a bottle of Orangina (she knew it wasn’t orange soda, but if Jake were sick, he could really use the vitamins), and assorted medicine.

It was silly of her to feel anxious – this was just Jake, after all. But she wasn’t used to performing gestures like the one she was attempting now. She may have been taking a page from Jake’s book by doing this.

Jake opened the door slowly. He wore a plain gray shirt and plaid pajama bottoms. He didn’t didn’t look sick, but he didn’t look a-okay either. Upon seeing her, his lips curved into a small smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “What’s all this?” he asked.

“Brought you some case files. I know you get bored on your sick days. And Meat Supreme,” Amy said, handing him the pizza box.

“Thanks,” Jake said, looking a bit stiff as he accepted it. “You didn’t have to.”

Something was off, and this was not exactly how Amy pictured things would play out. “Just making sure you were okay. I care about my peers too you know,” she said, trying to alleviate the growing awkwardness. “And I wanted to thank you for everything you did last weekend.”

Jake's brows knitted. “What are you talking about?”

“The coffee? 'Cause you knew how tired I'd be?"

“I always bring you coffee,” Jake replied, shrugging.

 _Well yes, but you don’t always get up early on a weekend, drive out to my favourite cafe, pick me up from my place without my asking, say really nice things to me and about me even though you don’t have to, and worry that I haven't gotten enough rest,_ Amy thought to herself.

“Well, it's just… You really went out of your way and all…"

"Oh, it was nothing," Jake said, swatting his free hand. "I would’ve done that for any of my friends.”

Amy opened her mouth but no words came out. She tucked her hair behind her ears and took a deep breath. “Okay then, hope you feel better soon. See you on Monday.”

She turned sharply and tried to walk with an even pace despite the panic that was rising in her system. When she reached her car, she rummaged through the glove compartment and was relieved to find a brown paper bag from a previous snack run. Breathing frantically into the bag, she tried to steady herself.

What the hell just happened? _Stupid, stupid Amy._ As it turned out, she had completely misinterpreted Jake's actions. It was one time she had chosen not to be extra cautious, and it blew up in her face.

She felt her pocket buzz and she hesitated to check her phone, afraid that it was Jake and that she wouldn’t be able to handle what he had to say. Taking a deep breath, she set the paper bag down and pulled her phone out. It was Rosa.

“What’s up?” Amy asked, hoping her voice didn’t sound too shaky.

“Where are you? My CI just called with a location. There’s a major delivery arriving within the hour. I already requested backup.”

“Text me the address, I’ll meet you there.”

Amy forced herself into action mode. This was not the time to fall apart.

* * *

She parked two blocks away from the condemned apartment complex identified by Rosa’s informant and put on the spare vest she kept in the trunk of her car. Eventually, she found her way to where Rosa and the others were positioned.

"This had better not be another false alarm. We could really use a win here." Rosa muttered.

Nearly twenty minutes later, a truck pulled up to the building. On Rosa’s signal, the team stormed the place. “NYPD! Freeze!”

Amy spotted a perp making a run for it. She holstered her gun and followed him out to an alley at the back of the building. Drawing her gun again, she walked slowly around a dumpster.

When she reached the corner, something heavy crashed into her and before she knew it, the perp was pinning her down and her gun was out of reach. He hit her hard in the face and tried to stab her with a large kitchen knife.

“Sonofabitch!” she yelled, raising her arms defensively. She felt a searing pain on her arms and the warm gush of blood as she struggled under the perp’s weight.

Suddenly, she heard a gunshot and the perp was thrown off balance, clutching his shoulder. Terry tackled the perp and pushed him facedown. Amy scrambled for her gun.

“Amy! You okay?” Terry called out as he cuffed the other man.

“Yeah, Sarge," Amy panted, aiming her gun at the perp. 

The EMTs stitched Amy’s wounds up and gave her a cold compress for her face. She had sustained two deep cuts on her right forearm and a longer but shallow gash behind her left arm. Her left cheekbone was bruised and had begun to swell.

Captain Holt, Terry, and Rosa stayed with her as she was given a transfusion. She assured them she didn’t have to go to a hospital.

“It probably looks worse than it is. I feel fine, really.” After all, she'd already gotten hurt far worse that morning.

“Sergeant Jeffords, please make sure Santiago gets home safely,” said Captain Holt. He turned to Amy. “The squad will check in on you and help with the aftercare.”

* * *

Amy thanked Terry for driving her home and for stopping by the deli to grab dinner for her. She insisted that he go back to the precinct to help with processing. Given the number of perps arrested, there would be a ton of paperwork involved, and she really hated that she had to miss out on all of it.

Amy dropped her apartment keys into a bowl on her entryway console and checked her phone. No new messages. She couldn’t believe she had just been at Jake’s less than six hours ago. It certainly felt much longer. She began to dread the prospect of seeing him again at work on Monday. This is why she should have listened to her own goddamn rule against dating cops. Hopefully Jake wouldn’t read too much into what she did, and they could both move past it eventually.

She changed into a loose shirt and a pair of shorts, cringing as she discarded her bloodied and torn blouse. She didn’t even have the energy to do the dishes after she finished her sandwich. Slowly, the adrenalin wore off and the painkillers kicked in.

At least she wouldn’t have to change her bandages until the next day; she didn’t feel like doing anything else for the rest of the night, except maybe to wallow in her misery. She ended up falling asleep on her couch, only to transfer to her bed when she woke up with a crick in her neck.

Rosa dropped by the next morning to bring Amy a brunch burrito and to check if she had enough painkillers. She filled Amy in on the progress of the paperwork.

"Sorry, I know you would've loved to fill up the forms."

"Yeah, well." Amy shrugged. "Hey, do you know who else is coming over?" As an afterthought she added, "I need to know how conservatively I need to dress, in case the Captain drops by."

"Probably just Gina. Holt told her to arrange shifts but I think she forgot."

Amy let out a breath she hadn't noticed she was holding in. Rosa raised an eyebrow.

“I’m just so glad this case is over,” Amy said.

“Ditto,” Rosa replied as she stood up. “Gotta go. Drinks on me when you get back.”

“Can’t wait,” Amy called out, closing the door. She sighed. She could really use that drink now.

She took a slow sponge bath, taking care not to get her stitches wet, and put on a camisole and gym shorts so she could easily change her bandages later. She flipped through the channels on TV, unable to pay attention to any of the shows that were on.

     Saturday, 5:20pm  
     G. Linetti  
_Bish your wifi better be working. Be there in 10._

Amy cringed. Gina had gone into histrionics last Thanksgiving because of the slow internet connection at Amy’s apartment. Unlike Gina, Amy didn’t need that much bandwidth, and she deemed it impractical to upgrade. Moments later, she heard a knock on her door. She got up, still holding an ice pack to her cheek.

“You can use my data, don’t kill me,” Amy said as she opened the door, steeling herself for the inevitable onslaught of comebacks.

Except it wasn’t Gina.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second to the last chapter! Let me know what you think. Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated. Much love to all who have supported this story so far. :)


	4. Jake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jake doesn't buy Amy's explanation because obviously, Analytic Geometry can't be a real thing, and Gina is the only person in the precinct who isn't an idiot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here it is, the final chapter! I apologise for any lacking scenes or details, but I kind of like how this turned out. A huge thank you to everyone who has given kudos and comments!

Jake chucked his duffel bag onto the floor and cast his hoodie aside.

Okay, Amy and Ricky were dating now. Well, they had gone on at least one date. It shouldn't have been surprising because they made a good match. Ricky was a nice guy, and Amy had every right to go out with whomever she pleased.

So why was Jake feeling angry? Wait, no, it wasn't anger. He couldn't put a finger on it. It was almost like he felt… betrayed, somehow.

He wished that Amy had told him that she’d started seeing Ricky. But he knew she had no obligation to do that. Sure, she had held Jake’s hand, but that shouldn't have been enough to lead him on. Maybe he had made things weird by being all up in Amy's business Saturday and it had spooked her? Whatever it was, he felt that he at least deserved a proper rejection.

He never should have tried to challenge Amy's stupid rule. He opened a bottle of beer and set up a _Die Hard_ marathon on his DVR.

Jake had fallen asleep in the middle of _Live Free or Die Hard_ , and when he woke up the next morning, it was nearing eight o’clock already. He knew that he'd have to scramble to not be too late to work, but he just didn't feel up to it that day. He wasn't ready to see Amy and be reminded of his letdown.

The best thing to do was to wait for the dust (that admittedly, he himself had kicked up) to settle, until he and Amy could go back to their old dynamic. Besides, he had already set up yesterday that he wasn't feeling well, and he hadn't been assigned new cases that week. Captain Holt suspected nothing when Jake called in sick. Shortly after Jake stepped out of the shower, he received a concerned text from Amy. The easy option was to ignore it, but that didn't seem fair to her, so he told her vaguely he was okay.

But then Amy said she was right outside, and Jake panicked. It looked like that rejection was coming sooner than he expected.

 _Be careful what you wish for, dumbass_.

He put on pyjamas, which was what he would have worn if he were actually sick, and reminded himself to be chill. The mission was to salvage their friendship in the most painless way possible.

He recalled that on his return from going undercover, he told Amy he didn't mean what he said about his having feelings for her. Well, he took it back soon after, but in that brief window, Amy had bought the lie, and it seemed to help normalise things between them. Maybe it would work again now.

He opened the door to see Amy in her usual work attire, with a box of pizza in hand, and a file box on the floor. Case files and pizza – she knew him too well. But recognised that it was a pity party, and he wasn't in the mood to be gracious about it. Thankfully she would have to go back to the precinct by the end of her lunch break.

“What’s all this?” he asked, as if he didn’t already know.

“Brought you some case files. I know you get bored on your sick days. And Meat Supreme."

Of course she brought his favourite flavour, and from Tony’s too. Man, why did she have to make this so hard. _Play it cool_ , he ordered himself. “Thanks. You didn’t have to.”

“Just making sure you were okay. I care about my peers too you know," Jake felt a flutter in his stomach, but he suppressed it like a pro. "And I wanted to thank you for everything you did last weekend.”

 _There it is._ Jake tried to act confused. “What are you talking about?”

“The coffee? 'Cause you knew how tired I'd be?"

“I always bring you coffee,” Jake replied, shrugging. For the most part, it was true. But it was usually vending machine coffee, or whatever cafe was nearest where they were.

“Well, it's just… You really went out of your way and all…"

Jake forced himself to appear casual about it. "Oh, it was nothing," he said, waving his hand. "I would’ve done that for any of my friends.”

Amy looked like she was about to say more, and Jake just knew that she was going to drop the rejection bomb any second. But then she did something strange – was that a _double tuck_? "Okay then, hope you feel better soon. See you on Monday.” All of a sudden, she turned and left. Jake watched her disappear at the end of the corridor before going back inside.

Great, now his agony was prolonged because Amy felt sorry that he was "sick" today and had chosen to postpone officially breaking his heart to Monday.

Jake inspected the contents of the file box. Amy had not only taken it upon herself to go through the chaos of his desk and pick out his active cases, she had also sorted them according to case number. He couldn’t help shaking his head at her consistency, and he snorted at the bottle of Orangina that she’d included in the care package. Oh, Amy.

* * *

At around five o'clock that afternoon, Jake’s phone rang. It was Gina.

“Hey, girl,” he answered he as chewed on his fourth slice of Meat Supreme.

“Hey, so Captain Holt wants me to fix a shift sched for checking in on Amy this weekend. You down to go tomorrow afternoon? Rosa's got the morning covered.”

Jake set the pizza down and sat up straight. “Gina, what are you talking about? What happened to Amy?”

“Oh yeah, forgot you were out today,” Gina said, sounding bored. “I don't really know. Something about getting injured from their drug bust?”

“What – how  – Is she in the hospital?”

“Nah, just at her apartment. Rosa says she's fine, someone just needs check in on her and bring food and meds or whatever.”

Jake tried to steady his breathing. If Rosa said Amy was okay, he shouldn’t be worried, right?

“You still there?” Gina said impatiently.

“Um, yeah.”

“So tomorrow afternoon?”

“Sorry, Gina, I don’t think I’d be good company for her right now.”

He could practically hear Gina straighten up. “Ooh, dish, bruh!” At least she didn’t sound bored now.

Jake sighed, “Look, don’t tell anyone, but I found out that she just started seeing someone and I'm not cool with it yet.”

“What? No she isn’t. I would know about it.”

“It's a high school classmate of hers. They went out last Wednesday,” Jake replied glumly.

“Kiddo, you've got this all wrong. It wasn’t a date. It was just a lame mini reunion or something.”

“Amy doesn’t do reunions, Gina. Anyway, the point is, I’d just be a bummer to hang out with.”

“Fine,” Gina conceded. “I'll ask the others. Buh-bye.”

Jake hung up and pressed his forehead into his palms. Amy had been fine just a couple of hours ago. Now she’d gotten hurt, and he hated that he wasn’t there to give backup. He needed reassurance but he couldn’t muster the nerve to see her. Sighing, he picked up his phone again to text Rosa.

Friday, 5:15pm  
_Just heard abt the drug bust, congrats_

     Friday, 5:18pm  
     Rosa D.  
    _Thanks, wish you were there. The raid was dope._

Friday, 5:19pm  
_I bet. Hey hows Amy?_

     Friday, 5:20pm  
     Rosa D.  
      _She's OK. Just a few cuts._

Jake breathed a sigh of relief. That didn’t sound too bad.

Friday, 5:20pm  
_Ok thx_

     Friday, 5:22pm  
     Rosa D.  
      _Feel better, man._

* * *

Jake got another call from Gina on Saturday afternoon. “‘Sup,” he answered.

"Listen, I know you said you didn't want to take a shift with Amy, but Samantha got us last minute tickets to _In the Heights_ for tonight. So I will do you a favour and let you have my shift."

Jake snorted. “You’re doing _me_ a favour?”

“Ugh please please please just take the shift.”

Jake rolled his eyes. "Fine, Gina. What does she need?"

"Seriously bruh? You probably know better than I do."

Jake couldn't argue with that. "Enjoy the show."

“Oh I will,” Gina replied with a weirdly insinuating tone. “Byeee.”

He would just have to bring her some takeout and supplies, and then leave right away. That shouldn't be too hard. There have been way more difficult things in his life. He’d gone undercover for two months in the mafia, for goodness sake. But somehow, the prospect of seeing Amy again, and at a vulnerable time for the both of them, seemed way more terrifying.

Jake stopped by a pharmacy to get painkillers, gauze, and medical tape, and he ordered takeout at the Polish place four blocks away from Amy's apartment. Once he had parked, he looked at the familiar sight of the building’s stoop, barely believing that he'd been there just a week earlier, bright-eyed and coffee in tow, hoping that they could somehow take their friendship to the next level.

His feet felt heavier with each step toward Amy’s door. Finally, he took a deep breath and knocked. He heard the bolt being undone a moment later and he watched in anticipation as the doorknob turned.

“You can use my data, don’t kill me,” Amy was saying as she opened the door, then upon seeing him, her eyes widened. "Oh. You're not Gina."

Jake would have loved to respond with something witty but he couldn't. He stared at her, his breath catching. Amy held an ice pack to her face but he could see the bruising and the small cut on her cheek. Her right forearm was heavily bandaged, and it looked like her left arm had a large bandage behind it too.

Perhaps he should have known that when Rosa says someone is "okay", said person may not really be okay by normal standards. After all, Rosa habitually carried knives around and had been buried alive at some point. But this was Amy. In the five years that they'd worked together, he had never seen Amy so badly scarred.

"Oh my god, Ames," he finally managed to say. “What happened?”

"It's not as bad as it looks," she said, giving a tight smile.

The both of them just stood awkwardly by the door for a moment.

"I should maybe set these down," said Jake, motioning to the bags he was carrying.

“Yes, definitely, please do.” Amy stepped back to let Jake in. He heard the door close behind him.

“Plates?” he said. Amy tried to reach overhead for the kitchen cabinet and winced. Jake stepped in and gently lowered her hands. Both of them tensed at the touch. “You know what, why don’t I just get those.”

Amy obliged and busied herself with opening the paper bags that Jake had placed on the counter.

“Pierogis and potato pancakes?” she said, sounding excited.

“And hot chocolate,” Jake added proudly, plates in hand and momentarily forgetting that the two of them were at a weird place, relationship-wise.

Dinner was not as awkward as Jake had expected, and it was actually pretty enjoyable. He laughed when Amy began ranting about all the paperwork and processing she had to miss out on, which he knew was her favourite part of every arrest. He asked her to describe how the raid went down, and his jaw clenched when she got to the part where she was attacked by the perp.

“Sorry I wasn’t there to help,” he said with a voice softer than he’d intended.

“It’s not your fault, it happens,” she said assuringly.

Jake offered to clean the plates afterwards, which earned a disbelieving look from Amy. “Contrary to popular belief, I do know how to do dishes properly. It’s just that washing plates in the traditional manner is boring, so I like to shake things up a bit and sometimes create a foam party in the kitchen.”

Amy cocked her head as if to say that he just proved her right. “But since I am helping out a disabled citizen today, I will behave and will not destroy the kitchen, I promise.”

Amy laughed and shook her head. “Jake, it’s okay. You don’t have to stay, Gina might be arriving any minute. She should’ve been here an hour ago.”

“Actually she’s not coming. She’s watching a play tonight,” Jake said, already reaching for the bottle of dishwashing liquid without Amy’s permission.

“Really? That’s weird,” Amy said, her eyebrows knitting.

“Look, I’m already doing this, okay. Just sit back and relax, read a book or three.”

“Don’t make a mess. I’ll just change these bandages.” Amy walked away, putting her hair up.

Jake was drying his hands with a paper towel when he heard Amy curse from the bathroom. He sprinted over and knocked on the bathroom door. “Hey, you okay in there?”

“I’m fine, it’s just... the angle is a little tricky.”

He couldn’t resist. “Title of your –”

“ _Jake_.”

“Sorry, sorry. You sure you don’t need help with that?”

“You get squeamish around wounds, Jake.”

“True, but I will hold it in out of my deep concern for you... as a friend and colleague.”

He heard Amy sigh exasperatedly. “Fine, get in here.”

Jake opened the door and saw Amy unsuccessfully trying to remove the bandage behind her left arm, which reached up to her shoulder. He understood that it was difficult because Amy was left-handed, and it probably hurt to move her right arm around too much.

“Okay, I got this,” Jake said, gingerly peeling away the medical tape, and trying not to get distracted by how close he was standing to Amy, and how fitted and sheer her clothes were.

Amy handed him a pair of forceps with a cotton ball wedged. He dabbed at the areas around the stitches, and Amy hissed when he neared a spot where the cut was a bit deeper.

“Shit. Sorry, Ames,” he said, cringing.

“S’okay,” she said. “Thank you for doing this.”

Jake placed fresh gauze over the wound as neatly as he could. “All done.”

“I have to say, I’m impressed,” said Amy as she put the supplies away.

“That’s why I do what I do, ma’am,” said Jake, falling back into his usual banter with Amy, and feeling relieved that everything seemed normal between them.

Amy chuckled as they walked back to the living room. “Thanks again, Jake. But I’m good for the rest of the evening. You might have somewhere to be.”

“I don’t,” said Jake, taking a seat on Amy’s couch, then sensing that he might be being dismissed, he added, “Unless you’re expecting someone, in which case, I will be heading out.”

“Well, I _was_ expecting Gina, but not anymore.” Amy sat down beside him. “Who else would I be expecting?”

“I dunno,” Jake said tentatively. He sighed and decided it was now or never. _Get it over with, bud._ “Maybe Ricky?”

Amy frowned. “Why would I be expecting Ricky?”

“Because… you’re seeing each other?”

Amy stared at him. “We’re not seeing each other.”

“But… but the email,” Jake stammered.

“You are not making sense.”

Jake sighed. “It's just… I may have accidentally seen an email that he sent you, saying ‘thanks for last night.’”

“Yeah, that was after we had dinner with our Analytic Geometry teacher,” Amy said, shrugging.

“Okay, Analytic Geometry can’t be a real thing,” Jake said, which earned an eye roll from Amy. “But more importantly, he was flirting with you.”

Amy was quiet for a moment. “Maybe he was. But I told him I wasn't into him.”

Jake couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Really? ‘Cause I thought you would be super into him. I mean, he's like, Enrique Iglesias, Elon Musk, and Mother Teresa rolled into one.”

Amy bit her lip. “I'm already into in someone else.”

Neither of them said anything for a bit, until Jake sighed and broke the tension: “Was it that Analytic Geometry teacher?”

Despite her injury, Amy punched Jake hard in the arm. “It’s you, you idiot!”

“Ow! You’ve got to be kidding me!” Jake clutched his arm, wincing. Then he gasped, “That double-tuck was real!”

“What?” Amy said, eyebrows knitting again. “Look, I tried to tell you yesterday. I was doing the romantic gesture thing that you like doing, but you shut me down with all that ‘it was nothing’ and ‘we’re just friends’ talk.”

“Because I thought you were going to reject me and I was trying to soften the blow! And how was I supposed to know that was a romantic gesture? You brought _Orangina_ ,” Jake reasoned, still massaging his arm.

“Jake! I just confessed my feelings for you and this is not how I imagined it would happen.” Amy crossed her arms and slumped on the couch. Jake couldn’t help smiling at how adorable she looked.

“Amy,” Jake said, seriously now, “I’ve wanted us to be more than friends for a while now. But I’ve been so afraid to try anything because you had that rule against dating cops.”

“It was a dumb rule,” Amy said sulkily.

Jake stared incredulously at her. “Who are you and what have you done with Amy Santiago?”

“I’m trying something new where I maybe break the rules every now and then. I’ll probably have to break a ton if I’m with you,” Amy said, smirking and glancing at him sideways. “What do you think?”

Jake grinned. “I think I really want to kiss you right now.”

“Well, I think I really look like crap right now,” Amy replied with narrowed eyes.

“Then it’s the most beautiful crap I have ever laid eyes on,” Jake said, leaning towards Amy and tilting her face towards him. Amy’s expression softened. Her eyes fluttered shut as Jake closed the gap.

* * *

“So, how was _In the Heights_?” Jake asked Gina as he joined her in the break room on Monday.

“Oh, it's… indescribable, really,” she replied, switching the coffeemaker on.

Jake laughed. “It’s okay, Gina, we know you didn’t really see it.” He reached over and gave her a side-hug. “But you did do me a huge favour. Thank you.”

Gina shrugged. “I still enjoyed the show, didn’t I?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I contemplated extending that scene on the couch, but honestly I'm not talented in writing smut (yet? wink wink). I will leave it to your imaginations, fellow shippers. I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it!


End file.
